Behind Brandin Cummings’ ‘storybook ending,’ Lincoln Park repeats as PIAA Class 4A champ
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Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 9:43 PM
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer to end yhe first half against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
The Lincoln Park boys basketball team celebrates with the state championship trophy after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A final on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings shoots a 3-pointer to end the first half against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates with Dontay Green after hitting a long 3-pointer against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Meleek Thomas shoots a 3-pointer over Archbishop Carroll’s Munir Greig during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Mikey Crawford celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Mikey Crawford tussles with Archbishop Carroll players during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Dontay Green points to the scoreboard after a tussle during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game against Archbishop Carroll on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings drives to the basket over Archbishop Carroll’s Luca Foster during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings receives his gold medal from head coach Mike Bariski after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates with his gold medal after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas celebrate with their gold medals after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s BDorian McGhee celebrates with his gold medal after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer to end the first half against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings celebrates as he exits the game against Archbishop Carroll during the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
The Lincoln Park boys basketball team celebrates after defeating Archbishop Carroll in the the PIAA Class 4A state championship game on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024, at Giant Center in Hershey.
HERSHEY — Brandin Cummings patiently held for the last shot of the first half, but the Lincoln Park senior didn’t wait around to see if his 3-pointer was good. He’d already turned his back on the shot and was headed toward the Giant Center locker room.
It went in, of course.
This was that kind of night for Cummings and the defending state champion Leopards, who made 67% of their shots and ran away with an 80-50 victory over Archbishop Carroll in the PIAA Class 4A final. A year ago, Lincoln Park needed some last-second heroics here to win a state title, but this one had a running clock for almost the entire second half under the mercy rule.
Cummings led the way with a game-high 37 points on a remarkable 14-for-18 shooting night. It was the final high school game for the Pitt recruit, who’ll graduate as a three-time WPIAL and two-time state champion.
“It’s like a storybook ending,” he said. “If you were reading a story and there was supposed to be a good ending at the end, I feel like the game that I just had would be that ending.”
The Pitt recruit made his first seven 3s before missing his eighth try, a deep attempt late in the fourth. He brought last year’s PIAA gold medal with him and was wearing both in the locker room afterward.
Lincoln Park (28-3) became only the 10th WPIAL boys team to win consecutive state titles, a list Imani Christian joined earlier in the day.
“It’s an amazing experience and very surreal to be one of only 10 teams to ever do it,” said junior Meleek Thomas, who had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. “We had a chip on our shoulder just to do it again. We had a goal. It’s hard to do it twice.”
Archbishop Carroll (21-9) reached the state finals with a nine-player roster filled entirely with only sophomores and freshmen. The Patriots hadn’t reached the state finals since winning in 2009.
This was the fourth PIAA title for Lincoln Park, all since 2014.
“They acted like and played like they’d been here before,” Archbishop Carroll coach Francis Bowe said.
That started with Cummings and Thomas, who’ve formed one of the top guard tandems in the state. They might be the best duo in the entire country, said Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski. Bowe probably won’t disagree.
After seeing the two in person, Bowe said they lived up to the accolades written about them. Thomas is considered a top five recruit in his graduating class, but the Philadelphia Catholic League coach said Thursday’s game showed him why Cummings is also a Power Six recruit.
“Now I can see why he’s going to an ACC (school),” Bowe said. “Wow, just shooting the lights out. You try to get a hand in the face, try to do different matchups. … It didn’t matter. It seemed that ball was going in the basket.”
Mikey Crawford added 15 points for the Leopards, who went 30 for 45 shooting from the field overall. They shot 70% in the first half alone, a rate that had them leading 25-10 after the first quarter and 51-22 at half.
Cummings admitted afterward that he didn’t see his 3-pointer that ended the first half, but he knew it was good.
“It was a great move, got set, rose up, let it go and knew it was good,” he said. “I didn’t have to see that one go in.”
Bariski said there were hints that a great shooting night was in store. The players were seriously focused for a shoot-around earlier in the day and were “locked in” for a practice Wednesday in Manheim. Bariski said the team talked about sending the seniors off with big games, and the players made it happen.
Cummings went 8 for 10 from the field in the first half and was a perfect 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. After halftime, he went 6 for 8 from the field and 4 for 5 from 3-point range. His fourth-quarter 3s kept getting longer and longer.
“When Brandin starts going, we understand they’re good enough to get him the ball,” Bariski said. “And they kept getting him the ball. Some of those last shots were a little crazy, but if you go to practice for us, he shoots those all the time.”
Archbishop Carroll couldn’t keep pace. The Patriots shot only 27% from the field in the first half, missing 21 of their 29 shots.
Lincoln Park headed to the locker room with a 29-point lead, and a layup by Thomas brought on the 30-point mercy rule less than a minute into the third.
“Twenty-one for 30 in the first half is pretty fantastic basketball,” Bowe said. “I didn’t want to say it in front of the kids, but they were just shooting the ball so well. Our kids were like, ‘Coach, they’re not missing.’”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Lincoln Park
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